Ronald Bonnetrouge

I would like to thank the Premier for her answer and for listing the First Nations that she had been in contact with. I certainly do not want to undermine the leadership's decisions from each of those regions, but my question had been if all possibilities, scenarios, were looked at prior to the creation, like having a think tank how we could do it. In my Member's statement, I had listed. We have up to 5,000, and now I am hearing close to 6,000 employees. Why did we not canvass? I am trying to get to the bottom line here.

We are paying an extra $87 million over four years. That is extra money...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I want to weigh in on the debacle of the COVID secretariat that I'm facing as an MLA. I'm here to represent the constituents of my riding but, most of all, for the people of the Northwest Territories. I see the way decisions are made by this government, and for the most part, they certainly do not favour giving anything to the small communities. I would like to mention that the COVID secretariat will create an extra 150 positions and cost this government approximately $87 million over four years.

Mr. Speaker, this is quite concerning. Perhaps, this government had blinders on...

I understand the federal government's partial contribution is welcome, but I do not see the guarantees for further funding in the coming years. T7*-his may be redundant on cutting other programs and services to keep feeding this secretariat. Will the Premier commit to revamping and looking at cost-saving ways to form this task force?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier. I ask if all possibilities were looked at prior to the creation of the secretariat with the bottom line in mind. I would like to reiterate that we had a state of emergency, which has since been removed but currently still have the public health emergency. Mahsi.

Yeah. I note some government yards. Specifically, I could mention the highway yards. Many of them have old buildings that haven't been decommissioned, type of thing, but they are still hanging onto them, even though they have new garages built because they are not being disposed of. Many of them are not being used, but they are not being totally shut down. I'm just looking at cost-saving measures here, within the department, because we are looking at climate change initiatives, dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. What I notice in a lot of the yards in the small communities is that we don't...

I'm not aware of the assessments being available. As I know in my community of Fort Providence, we were wondering about the old health centre unit and, even in K’atlodeeche, the former treatment centre building. I advised them to get the HBMA assessment and the ESA 1, 2, and 3 for the building. It wasn't readily available to anybody in the communities, and I'm just wondering, even in their inquiry, why that information is not released to them? Mahsi.

I thank you for that, and I am going to be looking forward. I strongly encourage you, as we are always looking for savings, money for the department, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Because I know, in my community, there is none. I look around, and I see there are three or four separate buildings. They are all burning fuel. A good example is: your department looks after schools and everything, and when we did the wood-pellet burner system to the school in Fort Providence, we went from 3,000 litres of diesel a month to close to 500. There are significant savings there if you can do that...

Mahsi for that. I wanted to touch upon the many, many older buildings that Infrastructure has in stock. I know, as a former employee, back then, we were in cost-saving measures at that time. There were lots of suggestions that you shut down these buildings so that they don't consume power or use up fuel, as they're going to be disposed anyway. I'm wondering if the department is in that mode or looking at that possibility. Mahsi.

Thank you Madam Chair, I note that with the department that when they are shutting down a building or because a new one has been built this goes to a lot of the older buildings. When they're going in shutdown mode because other groups, maybe there are groups in the communities that are interested in those buildings, could be any building in any community. Why the department doesn't conduct an HBMA, a Hazardous Building Materials Assessment, so that they already have it on hand? That is valuable information for anybody that's going to take over an asset, so they know what they're dealing with...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

This concludes the Standing Committee on Government Operations' Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Committee again wishes Ms. Keenan-Bengts well in her retirement and looks forward to working with the new IPC.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the GNWT provide a response to the recommendations contained in this report within 120 days. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.